by K. M. Shea
The valkyrie had hidden some of their army in the forest. They poured out of hiding and swarmed around the dragon army like a black cloud. The air was filled with war cries and the beating of drums as the second wave of Valkyrie flew in on their black beetle wings.
The dragons had been hurting before, but now they were smashed between two fronts.
Dozens of valkyrie, in their black battle gear, launched a surprise attack at Azmaveth, leaping at him while hundreds of the valkyrie raised their voices in song.
Azmaveth bellowed in pain as they stabbed him with their swords, slipping their blades in the gap between his scales.
Zerah rushed to his aid, shooting sheets of ice at the warrior valkyrie. The valkyries’ voices hit him like a landslide, and he was physically knocked backwards as their warbling voices throbbed.
The entire dragon army was being crushed.
Behemoth roared, his snarl overpowering all other noise. He took out a great number of evil immortals with a fearsome wall of fire. However, a large group of ghost like creatures drifted up to him and clamped his mouth together while blocking his nose. He passed out, unable to breath.
One by one I saw the dragons I knew, Rose, Shammah, the white female who had spoken for me in the trial, even the evil Blacksford, fall to the ground as the valkyrie swept over them like a tidal wave.
Tiny gnome warriors bravely hurled stones at the valkyrie. A huge troll scattered their forces with one giant swipe. The night griffon Azmaveth, as Kohath, had fought took flight with a legion of griffons, not affected by the valkyries’ voices as the other creatures were. They attacked the valkyrie with their claws and magic, but half of the valkyrie army rose to meet them in the air, armed with bows and quivers full of arrows.
The ground continued to tremble and Tuggles and I fought to stand upright as the earth shook under our feet.
An unearthly cry echoed across the plateau. It was Azmaveth, blood dripping down his side as the valkyrie continued to pour over him.
Their singing was starting to fog up my mind, but I felt the edge of the cliff I was standing on break. As the rocky ground broke off and fell down, I went down with it.
Through the hazy depths of my mind I saw Azmaveth as I plummeted toward the ground.
My left shoulder scraped along the cliff wall and I cried out in pain. I closed my eyes, expecting to die any second, when I was unpleasantly jolted into the cliff. My backside burnt like fire, and my feet dangled in the air.
I was still about twenty feet above the ground. The collar of my dress was pulled tight, nearly choking me. I wrenched my neck up.
Tuggles was holding me by the neckline of my dress, his legs carefully planted on the cliff side. He had slid down with me, but he had managed to wedge his hooves into the cliff side and snatch me from the air as well.
We slowly skid down the wall at a much slower rate, and five feet before we reached the bottom my collar ripped and I dropped to the ground in a heap.
Tuggles leaped to the bottom and stumbled before gently righting himself. I think he might have hurt his leg on the way down. He tossed his head, his pearly horn gleaming.
I ran up to him and threw my arms around his neck.
“Thank you Tuggles,” I said before turning around and running. I heard him neigh as I plunged into the battlefield.
Now this might have been the craziest, dumbest, and stupidest thing I have ever done, but I’ll let you be the judge of that.
The valkyrie were too busy subduing the dragons to bother with the rest of the army. So as I scampered past a group of mages, who didn’t see me, my biggest worry were the ogres and trolls.
By now I believe you must at least have some idea of what my luck is like, so you can guess what happens next. A huge troll blocked my pathway, and of course it had to be the biggest and baldest troll in the entire valkyrie army.
I turned around, about to call the mages for help, but they were teaming up against an ogre.
I studied the big troll with a wrinkled forehead. I didn’t have time for this, I had to find Azmaveth. “You remind me of Jezbell,” I told the troll before diving between its legs. I picked myself up and ran off before it could process I was gone.
I wove in and out of the two armies, miraculously coming out by Azmaveth unscathed. I crawled up his neck and slid onto his forehead where I leaned back and gazed at one of his giant eyes. His body shuddered as he opened his eyes.
“You shouldn’t have returned,” he gurgled.
“Azmaveth,” I cried. “I’m so sorry,” I sobbed on his forehead. “I’m so sorry.”
“Aww, isn’t this a touching scene?” a nasally, high-pitched voice screeched.
I looked to stare at a valkyrie who was decked out in emerald green armor. A ridiculously giant gold crown perched on her head. She could only be the Grand Master that Trila had told me about so long ago. How did I know? (Besides the giant giveaway of the gold crown.) Well, she was preeetty ugly.
“The great Azmaveth and his little princess!” she sneered. “Even battles cannot separate them,” she laughed.
Slowly I reclined back against Azmaveth’s head. “Azmaveth,” I hissed, trying not to move my lips. “How do I use the bracelet?”
“So revoltingly sweet, isn’t it?” the Grand Master asked some of her guards.
“What?” Azmaveth whispered.
“The Guardian Charms! How do I use them?” I urgently growled.
“You’ll never have Tsol,” Zerah promised, some distance behind Azmaveth and I. His voice was catching, as though he found it hard to breathe.
The Great Moron laughed. “Why master duke, I’ve already won! Your little army has been dashed to pieces. Speaking ill of me will not earn you an early death,” she promised with a smirk.
“You want to use them?” Azmaveth asked.
“Of course I do! So shut up and tell me how!” I hissed, hoping the valkyrie wouldn’t notice our hushed conversation.
“I don’t know,” Azmaveth admitted.
I hoped he would turn back into Kohath some time in the future just so I could throttle him with my own two hands. “What do you MEAN you don’t know?!” I hissed.
“I don’t know! My cousin was always more of the researcher! I prefer experimenting!” Azmaveth laughed, before choking on, I suspect, his own blood.
“Azmaveth,” I warned.
“Putting that aside, Ahira, there’s something I-I have to—,” He broke off, choking again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m not sorry I love you, but I’m sorry for causing you su-such pain.”
“Apologize to me later,” I soothed as the Grand Master rattled on and on about world domination.
“I don’t think I’m going to be able to,” Azmaveth said, laughing a little.
“Yes, you will,” I countered.
“Ahira, I’m dying.”
“No,” I stubbornly wiping away the tears in my eyes. “We’ll get you off the field. Someone will be able to heal you.”
“It’s too late, Ahira,” Azmaveth gently said before coughing.
“No! I love you,” I said. The words were much louder than I meant for them to be. (Truthfully speaking, I didn’t even mean to let them escape from my mouth.) Everyone in our area heard it, Grand Master included.
“Aww how cute, they’re confessing their undying love together,” the Grand Master cruelly laughed.
I hopped off Azmaveth’s head and walk in her direction.
“Ahira, Ahira stop!” Azmaveth wheezed.
I was too busy trying to remember how I broke Tuggles curse to notice. Only the Guardian Charms could have broken that pony’s curse. If I could do it once, I could do it again.
“Curse STOP!” I shouted, pointing in the Grand Master’s direction.
Nothing happened.
“Curse BREAK!” I tried.
Everyone stared at me.
The Grand Master erupted into giggles. “She’s finally lost it!”
“Break curse?” I continu
ed.
“It amuses me to see that one of the dukes fell for such a dingbat,” a valkyrie laughed.
Apparently my love life had become the stuff of enemy gossip. “BREAKER!” I tried.
Nothing.
My mind whirled as I thought of the possibilities. I didn’t have to say anything when I broke Tuggles’ curse, which was weird. Generally with dragon magic you had a keyword or two to start it up.
There was an explosion behind me, but I ignored it and kept trying. “Crush the curse! Curse Crusher! Freeze! Halt, crack, disband?”
The Grand Master covered the distance between the two of us and grabbed my arm. “Shut up, girl.”
“Shut up,” I mimicked, kicking her in the shins, quite possibly the only place that wasn’t covered in armor. “Break, break, BREAK!” I shouted, thinking perhaps I had to want it enough.
Then again, I didn’t even know what curse I was trying to break. All I knew is that Shammah and the other dragons had mentioned how the valkyrie had the power to cast curses which the dragons had no defense against. I remembered it was somehow tied to their voices, but I didn’t know how that knowledge would help.
“You little witch!” the valkyrie shrieked, rattling me with one arm while she reached for a dagger with her other.
I was ripped out of her clutches by human hands.
I whipped around to stare at a human Azmaveth with wide eyes.
He looked terrible.
His hair was disheveled, he was bleeding all over, and a black eye was clearly forming. His clothes were torn and dirty. He looked more like a peasant who had gotten in a drunken knife brawl than a duke, but to my love addled eyes he was the most wonderful thing on the face of the planet.
“Ahira,” he said, leaning on me.
“Huh?”
He abruptly tipped and sloppily kissed me. I can’t say it was a fairytale wonder. He was half dead and I was desperate. But when he finally pulled back very little was on my brain.
“Holy freak,” I said in a way that was very unbecoming and not at all princess-like.
Azmaveth managed a grin. “Gotcha. That’s the third time now.”
I stared at him before exploding. “I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT ALL ALONG! YOU SNEAKY LITTLE JERK KISSED ME THAT TIME WITH THE APPLES AND THE DWARVES WHEN I FELL ASLEEP!”
The plateau literally exploded in light after when I finished my tirade. Wind blew across the surface, creating giant dust clouds, pelting everyone with dirt and pebbles.
After one minute the clouds and wind instantly evaporated, dropping dust everywhere.
Everyone coughed and shook themselves off.
The Grand Master hacked as she stumbled towards Azmaveth and myself. She brandished a finger in the air and opened her mouth to speak. Nothing came out. She looked shocked and tried to talk again. Still nothing.
Around her all of the valkyrie found themselves unable to speak a single word.
The Grand Master clutched her throat and stared, with dread, at the dragon’s and their toothy smiles.
“What was that about taking over Tsol again… hmm?” Zerah smartly asked, standing up with help from fellow dragons.
Azmaveth sat on the ground, completely exhausted and sapped. Somehow he managed to rally enough strength to shout “Push our army back to the forest and guard Tsol. The second we have our rearguard in place take to the skies and rain magic down on them. They don’t stand a chance anymore.”
The dragons and their allies cheered while the valkyrie released silent screamed.
I blinked twice and unexpectedly blacked out.
Chapter 20Happily Ever After
I woke up a few hours later and opened my eyes to find myself nose to nose with human Azmaveth. “She’s awake,” he announced before smiling and pulling away.
I blushed and shyly smiled until a giant dragon head filled my vision. It was the Dragon King.
The King wryly smiled. “How strange. One day I find you in my courts, facing a possible death sentence, and only a short time later I find myself utterly in your debt and grateful that you love my stupid cousin. Princess Ahira, I must thank you on behalf of the dragons.”
“Wh-what?” I stuttered.
His smile turned gentle as I went pale. “You, Ahira, saved us.”
“Uh-huh?” I said. My mind was more than a little fuzzy.
“The Guardian Charms,” the King said, glancing at my wrist. “You got them to work.”
“How?” I asked.
The King laughed. “Sheer, dumb luck.”
“Please, I had it all planned. Maybe,” Azmaveth snorted. “The bracelet, we think allows its user to use their own emotions to crack and break curses. The stronger the curse, the stronger the emotion needs to be. The Keeper, or Tuggles, has been cursed for decades. His curse has been weakened through the ages, all he needed was a quick outburst of emotions. The valkyire use their voices to cast curses. It wouldn’t be unfounded to say that their voices are a curse. There were so many of them at the battlefield, and they were so strong that you really needed a powerful emotion to counter that.”
“So you ticked me off on purpose,” I blinked.
“Well, I would like to think it was a combination of your love for me and perhaps a little bit of your anger,” Azmaveth said with a winning smile.
“You said you didn’t know how the bracelet worked,” I accused, slowly sitting up.
“He didn’t,” the King dryly said. “He went on a hunch. Speaking of responsibility, Azmaveth, if this is how you treat the treasures I give you, you aren’t exactly encouraging me to give you more.”
“Oh please! When you gave it to me it was a tarnished trinket. At least I made it look better,” Azmaveth said, swatting a hand through the air.
I leaned back on my hands. “Let me guess, the Dragon King is that cousin you always played with when you were younger?”
“Yep. He’s my favorite cousin,” Azmaveth nodded.
“I’m you’re only cousin you nitwit,” the King insulted.
“Which is the only possible way you could be my favorite. If Zerah was related to me I would chose him over you.”
“What?”
“You sent me to the FRONT LINES! What do you expect?”
“Oh that’s it. No magical boon for you!” the King hissed.
“Like I care!” Azmaveth snarled in the face of his much bigger relative.
The King sniffed, elegantly twitching his tale. “And to think. I was going to give you Haven, that dreadful island the valkyrie used to live on, to rule with Ahira.”
“Cooouussiinn!” Azmaveth sang, throwing his arms open wide while cheerfully smiling.
“Oh no. Sucking up will get you nowhere this time,” the King said, shaking his beautiful head.
“Azmaveth,” I thoughtfully started. “Why are you still human?” As funny as it was to watch a human and dragon argue like siblings, I was curious.
Azmaveth turned to face me
“Right… hah-hah, about that.”
“When he kissed the bajeebies out of you he decided he was going to become a human, permanently,” the King extolled, tattling with the eagerness of a four-year-old.
“You didn’t,” I said, staring at Azmaveth.
“Oh I did! Because I’m a wonderful scientist I was able to create a permanent potion last week!” Azmaveth laughed. “Now we can be together forever!”
“AZMAVETH!”
“I love you too, cupcake!”
In the end the King gave the island of Haven to Azmaveth and I as our wedding gift. Haven is a beautiful land that is now filled to the brim with magical creatures and humans alike. It’s almost like a mixing ground of Somnio and Tsol.
Azmaveth had a large castle built there, which we live in. Tuggles came with us, along with a few dragons.
Zerah drops by frequently. He’s the self styled ambassador from Tsol to Haven. He still occasionally turns into a human when it suits his mood, usually only when there are parties and he can purposely tick
Azmaveth off by sweeping me around in a dance.
Behemoth is as obsessive compulsive as ever. I enjoy having him stay with us at the castle occasionally. Whenever he leaves our grounds are sparkling clean. He managed to dump Cinders off in an abandoned castle after feeding her a sleeping potion. Together he and Zerah spread rumors about a “sleeping beauty”. If any of us ever need a laugh we swap stories about the horrified princes who ride and battle their way to Cinder’s room, only to discover that she isn’t sleeping, nor is she a beauty.
I soon suspect that Blacksford and Rose will be getting married. Rose and I have managed to patch things up between us, and she recently confessed that she finds Blacksford’s wild temperament delightful compared to Azmaveth’s odd eccentricities.
Caspian is officially King of Ardeo. Azmaveth and I attended his crowning ceremony, and in turn he attended ours.
My father is still alive, but he very gratefully turned over his kingship to his son. Instead he travels the sea in his private ship. He visits us often, usually Mother comes with him.
Jezbell has thankfully stayed away from me. I have not seen her since the dinner incident, which is probably just as well. Maybe one day I’ll mature enough so I can face her without wanting to scream, but I fear that day may be a long ways off.
I’m not exactly sure what happened to Aaron, but I do know he’s alive. Azmaveth alluded to perhaps forcibly marrying him to Cinders. Zerah told me several weeks ago he’s still under the custody of the Dragon King.
And Azmaveth and I?
We just finished celebrating my twentieth birthday. We don’t have any children yet. Honestly I’m not sure the world is ready for little Azmaveths to be running around in it, but Tuggles is trying to persuade me otherwise. When we finally have a brat he will be its faithful honor guard.
Life is pleasant. We still have the occasional outburst of renegades left over from the battle. Haven is generally peaceful, filled with unicorns, griffins, fairies and more.
Really, I guess I’m livinghappily ever after.
